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1929 Duesenberg All

DUESENBERG — Indianapolis, Indiana — (1920–1937) — In the March 1903 issue of Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal, in the column entitled “Injunctions, Lawsuits, Fires, Judgments, Failures, Etc.,” it was revealed that one F.S. Duesenberg, a bicycle builder from Iowa, had filed a petition in bankruptcy, reporting assets of $1075.50 and liabilities of $2115.95. This little-known historic fact is insignificant, perhaps, but mentioned for a reason. If but one of all the automobiles ever built in America had to be singled out as the most glorious achievement in this country's automotive history, that car would have to be the Duesenberg. It transcended the ordinary in full measure, created legends in its wake which will live forever, and became a literal metaphor — “It's a Duesy” — for anything unrelentingly superlative. And yet, just as the man who built it might fail i ...